Enterprise Bank moves to dominate retail banking segment

As part of its resolve to compete favourably in the banking industry, Enterprise Bank Limited said it had started working on strategies that would enable it dominate the retail segment of the market.A statement quoted the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Mr. Ahmed Kuru, as saying that the decision to capture the retail segment of the market, was in line with the financial institutions desire to be a medium size bank.He pointed out that the banks 153 branch network scattered across the country, would play a significant role in its quest to be a dominant force in the retail banking segment.Kuru said, Really if you talk about scale, you talk about balance sheet size. The balance sheet size does not necessarily mean you are the most efficient and profitable bank. So what we intend to do is to leverage on efficiency; but we have the scale. Everybody in this industry today will tell you that the future is retail business. But retail doesnt bring money today, it is a long haul.Every bank will tell you they want to be retail banks. But if you look at the dimension of their balance sheet, you will see that retail does not contribute five or 10 per cent of the bottom-line. But for us to be able to reach the bankable level we are talking about, we have to push the retail banking; but ultimately, the commercial beat of it is also very critical and that is the area that all of us are now playing; because that is the area that gives you quick returns and makes it easy for you to cover the whole spectrum of the market segment.The Enterprise Bank boss said the Central Bank of Nigerias cash-lite policy would also be used to achieve the target of dominating the retail segment of the bank, adding that the bank had deployed cutting edge and efficient infrastructure to ensure effective implementation of the policy, which will kick off in Lagos next month.He stressed that the move would help the commercial bank compete effectively in the industry.As a bank, you must be focused on what segment of the market you want to go in. Every bank in Nigeria; besides those that are playing the investment banking side will tell you that the retail business is what they are targeting; and that informs the recent acquisitions and mergers that we have seen.
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